Details
UK - HSL is again supplying a complete stage lighting and sound system to the high profile nine-week Opera Holland Park season, together with site-wide lighting and electrics, power distribution and full public address and announcement audio.

The completely sold out event features six full-scale productions, each run two at a time in repertory for three weeks, and is promoted by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

This year's shows includes: The Merry Widow, Fedora, Manon Lescaut, Cosi Fan Tutte, Rigoletto and The Queen of Spades, all accompanied by the Grammy Award winning City of London Sinfonia.

The technical production is overseen and co-ordinated by the Council's operations manager Mike Harth, working closely with his team of technical staff in

Details
USA - Indiana-based Apollo Design Technology has introduces the Smart Move Vertical, its latest addition to the Smart Move family of gobo movement products. Featuring motion, time, and speed presets that create vertical movement of patterns or text, the Vertical's special gobo offers multiple image areas that, when combined with the vertical movement, allows one image at a time to be placed in the focal path of the fixture. While fitting conveniently into the iris slot of an ETC Source Four and Altman Shakespeare, additional effects can be created by placing another gobo in the fixture's gobo slot.

Ideal for subtle movement of corporate logos and other retail, architectural, and theatrical applications, the Smart Move Vertical offers designers new creative opportunities, say Apollo. A DMX model is also available.

(Lee Baldock)

Details
UK - Crystal Clear Audio, a specialist in high quality AV installations for churches and schools, has installed a new sound system at St. Meryl's Primary School, Watford, on behalf of Carpenter's Park Church. The Church regularly uses the school's main hall for its services, but was frustrated by the poor quality of their old sound system - and Crystal Audio's experts were called in to sort it out.

"Our brief was to install a new system that was compact, simple to put together and very easy to use," says Crystal Clear's managing director, Nick Fatkin. "The main components of the system are Van Damme Black Series multicore cable and VDM connectors, all of which was supplied by VDC Trading. We also specified stage boxes and an Allen & Heath mixer, along with Shermann speakers that are permanently mounted on RSJs."

Client response to the new sound system has b

featured content

Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

Details
UK - United Visual Artists has used 240 Chroma-Q Color Blocks to provide a curving LED screen of lighting and video effects for Massive Attack's Collected 2006 international tour. The Color Blocks have been bought by Blackburn-based rental company HSL, main lighting contractor for the tour.

The group, currently touring Europe to promote their tenth anniversary 'Best Of' compilation, recently returned to the UK to play high-profile headline slots at the Wireless Festival 2006 in London and Leeds. For this, the third successive tour collaboration between the band and lighting designer Vince Foster, UVA wanted to create an entirely new, more organic and audio-responsive show for their onstage visuals, whilst still retaining the essence of the last two tours.

UVA had discussed the idea of surrounding the group with LEDs capable of displaying images and text, but which also doubled

Details
UK - Entertainment lighting supplier White Light is continuing its close and successful working relationship with both European Events and Private Drama supplying the lighting for European Events' latest series of events and parties at the Honourable Artillery Company grounds in the City of London. The rig was also expanded on for one particular event organised within the HAC Marquee by Private Drama.

White Light have been working with European Events on their HAC Summer events for a number of years; White Light's Jason Larcombe says: "Every year we have built upon the design to offer more dynamic and stylised lighting, keeping a fresh appearance to the marquee interiors. This year our theme was 'summer in the city', and we made use of the latest automated and colour changing technology."

These changes have been well received by European Events, with the company's Ad

Details
UK - Rigging, drape and starcloth specialist Blackout, supplied and fitted out Earls Court 1 for the recent Give it a Name 06 festival held at the London venue in late April, 2006.

The idea was to create a festival style atmosphere with two different stages, but all within an indoor environment. To achieve this, Blackout worked closely with Andy Redhead, the main production manager for SJM Concerts, who was responsible for the overall design and layout. The main area which featured the stages and the catering points was deliberately left open to create an atmosphere where people could sit at the bars and watchthe bands. The event was visited by 26,000 people over the weekend, and among the acts appearing was My Chemical Romance, and Lost Prophets.

Kevin Monks, Blackout's project manager said that attention to detail was important. "We enclosed the stage areas, and

Details
Italy - RCF have announced that they are now shipping their new MQ 50 C loudspeaker. The unit's compact design, light weight and limited depth, makes the RCF MQ 50C 2-way ceiling monitor loudspeakers ideal for use in any PA situation including, background/foreground music systems where very high fidelity audio is required, says the company.

RCF's Phil Price says: "With the introduction of the MQ 50C, this now enhances the Monitor Q range. Because it combines both excellent sound reproduction with ease of installation, it makes it an ideal speaker for both retail and bar venues and high fidelity AV Audio situations."

Installation of the MQ 50C is fast and efficient using the built in rotating hooks; no additional brackets or rings or other supports are required says the company. It weights 2Kg and can be mounted as a conventional ceiling speaker. The fabric dome tweet

Details
UK - It is with great sadness that PLASA Media has learned this morning of the death of Tony Gottelier, who passed away peacefully at home at the weekend, following a long illness.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Tony was one of the most influential lighting designers working in the nightclub and leisure industry, with his ground-breaking design for the famous Camden Palace among his achievements. From 1983 onwards, with Peter Wynne-Willson, Tony was a partner in the innovative lighting design and engineering firm, Wynne-Willson Gottelier (WWG). The company was responsible for many entertainment projects for the leisure and cruise ship industry, and for creating products such as the Razorhead moving searchlight, the Fantôme - an automated version of Robert Juliat's 2.5kW zoom profile, and of course the Catalyst system with its 'orbital movement' mirror-based projection arrangement

Details
UK - Single plasma displays are no longer acceptable in the foyers and reception areas of progressive corporate establishments, believes Tim Verran, a director of system integrators Ikure Audio Visual Management.

When that office is situated within the famous Northern and Shell Building on the Thames, presided over by publishing tycoon, Richard Desmond, that observation becomes particularly relevant.

ODL Securities Limited (ODLS) was founded in 1994 as Options Direct (Europe) Ltd in response to a movement away from the 'open outcry' system of trading on the LIFFE derivative products market. The company believed that the future for trading financial instruments would be screen based and the use of technology would be paramount in the development of the financial markets.

Boasting some of the widest ranging and most technologically advanced resources in the financial industry,

Details
USA - Providing professional AV integrators with the ability to create easy-to-use interfaces for even the most complex audio networks, Biamp Systems today introduced version 1.2 of its proprietary daVinci control system software. daVinci 1.2 allows integrators to design powerful, graphic based control interfaces for PCs or third party remote controllers, giving end-users the freedom to manipulate various audio network functions via any of Biamp's audio processing components, including the new Nexia VC and Nexia TC Digital Signal Processors.

Version 1.2 of the popular daVinci software features a number of new capabilities that make the software more efficient and even easier to operate for end-users of varying technical backgrounds. New to daVinci 1.2 is the Auto-Connect function which automatically locates a Biamp component and its network settings, and then quickly loads compo

Details
UK - XL Video is supplying projection for Canadian filmmaker Atom Ergoyan's critically acclaimed stage production of Samuel Beckett's Eh Joe, originally written for television in 1965 and never performed onstage before.

The production, was originally commissioned by The Gate Theatre, Dublin and The Barbican, London and has enjoyed short runs at both venues. It is currently in the West End at the Duke of York's Theatre for a three week twice-nightly run.

The compelling 25 minute drama features actor Michael Gambon sitting alone on a bed motionless and silent, behind a gauze, while an offstage camera trained on this face, slowly zooms in to a close up shot over the duration of the work, capturing all the nuances of his expression. A disembodied female voice-over reminds Joe of a past love affair that ended in tragedy when he drove the woman to suicide.

The image of Gamb

Details
UK - Lighting designer Mark Kenyon has used 207sq.m of Chroma-Q Color Web for the set of new Ant and Dec TV gameshow PokerFace - the largest single application of the LED webbing system to date.

The show is produced by TalkbackThames in association with Gallowgate Productions for ITV. Set design is by Dominic Tolfts. Lighting and video design is by Mark Kenyon, assisted by console programmer and operator Roger Williams.

The big-budget production features the very latest LED lighting and video effects technology to bring a dramatic, visually exciting look and feel to the gameshow format. Central to this look is a series of slow moving video clips running on highly visible LED display surfaces throughout the show.

In addition to outputting these clips in standard video resolution to a large centre-stage LED screen behind presenters Ant and Dec, Mark Kenyon wanted to dre

Details
UK - As the longest running supplier to the Henley Festival, RG Jones was privileged to be offered the The Belle Epoque Bar at the acclaimed Henley Festival Music and the Arts to celebrate reaching 80 years of trading. Henley Festival's caterers, Letherby and Christopher provided an extraordinary spectacle of food from their Water for Fish menu which was devoured whilst guests relaxed on a private floating bar relaxing in the warm evening sun.

Jon Lord from Deep Purple performed on the main floating stage that night amongst many other extraordinary artists such as the Transe Express in Maudits Sonnants, the jaw dropping flying French phenomenon. Suspended by a telescopic crane, this turning musical chandelier leads the movements of the suspended musicians. Using a lighting system integrated into the structure, the visual variations orchestrated by the music enforces the sonar at

Details
Germany - After long runs in the theatres of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Bremen, Saturday Night Fever has set off on tour, opening with a high-profile premiere in the Bremen Musical Theatre, the first of a total of 44 performances in 11 cities this year. Audiences at this successful musical, penned by the Bee Gees, have high expectations regarding sound quality, no matter how difficult the conditions at the various venues may be.

Sound design was in the hands of the Stolberg enterprise FeedBack GmbH, together with sound engineer Cedric Beatty (a Grammy nominee for the Joe Zawinul World Tour Album). The sound system consisted of 20 Nexo Geo T4805s, four Nexo Geo T2815 downfills and six Nexo CD18 subs, powered by 14 Camco Vortex 6 amps and processed by 6x Nexo NX 242 TDcontrollers.

Bernd Schmitz, managing director of FeedBack, explains the choice of system. "In our opin

Details
Italy - In the impressive framing of the Circo Massimo, the first stadium in the world, built by the Roman Emperors and used by them for the horse racing, the World Football Champions received the warmest greetings of their life.

The event broadcast by RAI and Sky Sport, was realised also thanks to the rental company Di & Di Lighting of Rome.

30 Coemar iWash Halo were used and the quality of light and colour perfectly suited to the TV application, says the company: the green, white and red colour created the Italian Flag, while the optical system of the projector together with the TXO Halogen lamp offered an extremely bright light output. The emission spectrum of the TXO lamp enables the user to obtain saturated colours.

(Chris Henry)

Details
UK - Stoneleigh Abbey sits in 690 acres of parkland and gardens through which the River Avon flows. It is therefore an idyllic setting for staging classical musical concerts accompanied by dramatic firework displays.

Julie McNally of Spitfire Productions has been producing an evening of classical music at Stoneleigh for 11 years and throughout this period has used Star Events Group (formerly Star Hire) as her only staging PA and Power supplier.

McNally says: "I always get terrific support from Jane [Jane Russen - director Star Mobile] and her team throughout the planning process. The whole 'classical show in parkland' type event has taken off so much in recent years, we are competing heavily with similar shows that have sprung up nearby. But we believe the setting at Stoneleigh, and our superior firework displays, are what audiences still appreciate."

This year Spi

Details
USA - Entertainment lighting manufacturer High End Systems is today debuting its new podcast program, developed and produced in its in-house marketing department.

Those with iTunes, a video iPOD or podcasting software such as Juice, iPodder or iPodderX can now tap into these fresh feeds, which will include interviews, product demonstrations, tutorials, new technology 'sneak peeks' and more.

HES has a history of producing its own videos, which are posted on the HES website and transmitting these videos via an iPOD will now offer a portable convenience not offered by traditional web services. It also allows the ability to produce exclusive episodes, campaigns or podcast contests.

Tim Grivas, HES director of creative services, says: "Offering our videos through podcasting gives our dealers, sales team, techs in the field and lighting professionals an immediate access. It c

Details
UK / Germany / India - PLASA, the Professional Lighting and Sound Association in the UK, and Germany's professional lighting and sound association, VPLT, have both announced their support for PALA India.

PALA India is the first international exhibition of its kind to be held on the sub-continent, incorporating all of the vertical markets within professional AV and entertainment technology, and the only show for audio installation and AV integration in the region.

PLASA is promoting the show to its membership, and assisting IIR, the organisers, in marketing PALA India to the professional lighting and sound industry in the UK. PLASA managing director Matthew Griffiths confirms the organisation's support for what he sees as an opportunity for its members, he says: "It's good to support an industry trade show in an emerging overseas market. The fact that it is organised by II

Details
Australia - Luxeon LEDs from Lumileds have been used to light the InterContinental Executive Club Lounge on the 32nd floor of the InterContinental Hotel in a project which provides a lounge for guests along with a viewing deck of Sydney's Botanical Gardens and Harbour.

Ndylight specified Megabay Lighting Enterprises, a certified member of the Luxeon Lighting Network, to create a relaxed, stylish environment through the creative use of light, while taking advantage of the stunning views of the city.

As the new lounge is surrounded by glass on three sides, lighting design director, Susan Lambert, had the challenge of minimising the amount of interior light being reflected back into the lounge. To achieve this, Ndylight's solution for the Executive Lounge incorporates Luxeon LEDS on both the interior and exterior. These are used to highlight individual elements of the design.

O

Details
UK - One summer's evening each year sees the beautiful surroundings of Bristol's Clifton College play host to Prom on The Close. So on 8 July, 6,000 concert-goers were treated to a selection of well-loved classics from opera diva Leslie Garrett, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Clifton Choir. Sound rental company, WE Audio supplied the audio requirements for the event, which featured a Turbosound Aspect loudspeaker system.

The system comprised nine per side (three wide by three deep) TA-890H mid/high cabinets flown left and right of the stage on a Serious Stages' Lunar Boom, with a further six TA-890L 15" bass cabinets and two TSW-218 18 inch horn-loaded bass cabinets ground stacked left and right. An additional two TA-890H cabinets per side were also ground stacked, with another pair in the centre to produce the correct sound image and with ei

Details
Europe / USA - Radiohead has gained a reputation as one of our era's most creative and eclectic bands. Musically, they keep their fans' affection with a mosaic of multilayered songs and continuous artistic evolution. On the road, the band maintains that cutting edge feel with a complementary lighting design by long time Radiohead LD Andi Watson.

As fans eagerly await the release date of a new album, Radiohead has begun debuting some of its new material on a European and North American tour. The tour also marks the debut outing for Martin's Mac 700 Wash.

Andi Watson, who helped beta-test the Mac 2000 Wash on a number of Radiohead's European shows in 2002, and subsequently used the luminaire on the band's Hail to the Thief tour, has real-world tested the Mac 700 Wash on this latest Radiohead tour. "I am incredibly impressed with the Mac 700 Wash," he says. "

Page 1942 of 3465

Latest Issue. . .